WEST BANK: Business dies as shops in Hebron's old city market suffer as Israeli army checkpoints limit people's freedom

Record ID: 561175

  • Title: WEST BANK: Business dies as shops in Hebron's old city market suffer as Israeli army checkpoints limit people's freedom
  • Date: 25th April 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF FENCE AND CONCRETE SLABS SEPARATING JEWISH SETTLERS AND PALESTINIANS WHO LIVE IN THE OLD CITY
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVA4FPE8440FBQOGIZL62FCYG9AM
  • Story Text: The Old City market has been the wholesale market for an entire district in Hebron for many years. A concentrated Israeli military presence to protect a small number of Israeli settlers in the heart of the city has been gradually tightening restrictions on the local inhabitants. Shops have been forced to close down and residents say that constant harassment of visitors by Israeli soldiers has resulted in a steep drop in trade. It's 10 o'clock in the morning and the old city of Hebron is silent.
    For years the he Old city market for has been the wholesale market for an entire district in Hebron. Currently the market or 'Souk' is tightly controlled by military checkpoints where Israeli soldiers patrol the city and limit people's freedom of movement.
    Abdel Hamid Haroub, a Palestinian owner of a jewellery shop in the city since 1980, says the restrictions have severely damaged trade in the area.
    "By God, there used to be days when we would make 500 dinars (715 US dollars) in this small shop. I bought it for 28,000 dinars (40,000 US dollars), I sold my land to buy it. We used to make 50, 100, 200, and 500 (dinars) per day. And now, I haven't made a single dinar in 6 or 7 years- not one dinar. Why? Because nobody comes and there is no trade," Haroub said.
    The Israeli army controls seven iron gates which shut on roads inside the old city leading to the market place. The gates are described by Haroub as 'prison gates' for the area's 2,500 Palestinian inhabitants.
    "Harassment by the (Israeli) army -- like I told you, anyone who comes here, they (the army) stop them, demand proof of identity, search them up against the walls, make them wait -- they (visitors) never come back," said the 60-year-old shop owner
    Once the centre of Hebron's commercial and cultural life, the market place is now virtually deserted. Hebron is the only West Bank city which has Israeli settlers living within it. There are some 600 settlers living in the centre of the Palestinian city.
    Shopkeeper Zuhair Maraka lives in a section of Hebron under Palestinian Authority control, and runs a shop in the Old City marketplace. His journey to work sees him passing through two checkpoints daily on his half-kilometre journey.
    Maraka says the market, once full of shoppers, is now desolate. This has meant he has experienced severe loss of income.
    "It depends on the army. The army comes in, picks 10 shops and declares them closed in order to paralyse the city. So, you never have all the shops in the market open. The (old) city is desolate, it's like a ruin," Maraka adds.
    The Hebron protocol was signed in 1997 by Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials, according to which the city was divided into "Hebron 1" and "Hebron 2."
    "Hebron 2" covers approximately 20 percent of the municipal territory and is controlled by the Israeli army, while in "Hebron 1" the Palestinian authority was given full security and civil administration.
    In 2002, the whole city was re-occupied by the Israeli army as were other West Bank cities and villages, and now Israeli soldiers enter the "Hebron 1" Palestinian-controlled area.
    Hebron is the second largest city in the West Bank after Nablus with a population of 170,000.
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